This ghostly festival is extra ghastly in 20204 min read
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Source: Pixabay 
Source: Little Guide Detroit
Do you see those pictures and instantly know what I am going to talk about? Yup, that’s right, it is almost Halloween. That festival where Christian’s dress up like terrifying monsters and ghouls and……. eat and share candy?
Halloween has its origins 2000 years ago when it was known as Samhain. Samhain, which is pronounced sow-in, was a festival of the dead that was celebrated by the ancient Celtic people from Europe. When the cold, dark, and gloomy winters were about to begin, they believed that the worlds of the dead and the living began to merge. On the 31st of October, to be specific, the dead would return to Earth!
All this celebration for Ghosts? That’s odd!
These ghosts weren’t just any run-of-the-mill beings of the after-life. They would…..eat up the crops. Nope, they weren’t like the ghosts you see on TV now. Maybe they were just hungry from all those years of being dead. In fact, the Celts even believed that these hungry ghosts helped them see the future and prepare for it.
But do not worry, the Celts had a fix for all the spooky stuff; This festival. Dressed up in costumes, the Celts would sacrifice animals and grains in ceremonial fires. This way, their gods would protect them from the evil within the crop- stealing ghosts. Samhain is still celebrated on the 31st of October, but it’s now known as Halloween. Halloween is not really about sacrificial fires anymore. It is more about a whole lot of sugary, sticky, sickeningly good candy given to terrifying tiny monsters.
Owliver’s Obscure Observation: People often dress up their pets in spooky looks for Halloween. In fact, every year more and more people go out to buy costumes for their cats, dogs and other animals.
Halloween 2020
Halloween this year is packing an extra punch! It is not only a spooky night filled with young ghosts and ghouls roaming the streets in many countries, but it is also a full moon night. And, this full moon is a rare blue moon. No, that isn’t really a moon that looks blue, but the term for a second full moon in the same month. What’s more? For the first time since world war 2 (ended in 1945), this full moon will be seen across the globe at the same time!
Owliver’s Obscure Observation: People often carve faces into pumpkins and place them outside their houses on Halloween.
<< Source: GIPHY
Have a Haunting Halloween and let us know what you did in the comments below!
Images: Pixabay, Community Action Matters, Crystalinks, History.com, Little guide Detroit, GIPHY
With Excerpts From: History.com, Cnet. com, National Geographic, The Old Farmers Almanac
